My Horrifying $137.85 Tesla Maintenance Bill

After a year of driving about 15,500 miles, my total maintenance bill for the Tesla Model Y that I bought last October is a wrenching $137.85. What did I spend that small fortune on?

Taking the car to a local tire shop and having the tires rotated, twice. The first bill, $40, was just for rotating the tires. The second, $97.85, was for rotation, rebalancing and repair of a slow leak.

That’s it. Nothing else for maintenance unless you want to count going to a car wash twice a month and refilling the windshield washer fluid.

But what about “fuel” – electricity?

 For the year, the car has gone about 4 miles for every kilowatt hour of electricity, with an incremental cost of about 10 cents a kilowatt hour. This is also pretty clean power since we take the option of maximum renewable sources and a small charge to pay for carbon offsets from Pedernales Electric Cooperative.

This means I can drive this rather heavy, spacious car about 40 miles for $1. Alternatively, that would be about 120 miles if a gallon of gas cost $3.

But what about the cost of electricity at Supercharger stations?

 That’s probably the biggest change. Our “gas station” is a charger in our garage. When I leave the house, I unplug the car. When I return, I plug it back in. In the last year I have been to a Supercharger station on only nine days, and a few of them were just to get a feel for charging that way. They weren’t necessary.

The necessary Supercharger station stops were for relatively long trips, like Austin to Dallas. According to my car, only 8 percent of the electricity used came from Supercharger stations. And remember, that’s for 15,500 miles, absolutely average for Texas drivers.

I wasn’t staying home. I was out and about.

That tells me “range anxiety” is a myth. It may have been a reasonable fear when the first EVs were launched, but it’s not an issue today.

But what about driving comfort?

 My wife prefers the softer ride of her 2025 Toyota Corolla Cross hybrid, a small SUV that she loves. I like the relatively hard ride of the Tesla. It handles well cornering and accelerates briskly, even though it is the base rear-wheel-drive model. It feels more like a sporty roadster than an SUV.  I like that.

It’s also roomy, about as generous in seating and stowage as the Lexus RX350 that it replaced, with plenty of foot room for rear seat passengers.

But what about depreciation?

 With repeated stories about people selling their Tesla at a loss because they don’t want anything to do with Elon Musk, I could be concerned.

Except for one thing. I buy cars for the long term. So I’m not worried about what it would sell for this week. I also know that the cost to replace it, today, would be close to the $37,750 net of discounts I paid (excluding tax, title, etc.). According to the Tesla website, used cars very similar to mine of that model year are being offered between $34,100 and $40,100.

That, of course, is what they would sell a similar car for. The Edmund.com website tells me that my Tesla would receive a trade-in offer of $28,780. The site also indicated that CarMax would offer between $26,364 and $34,566. Since cars typically depreciate around 20 percent a year, the depreciated value on $37,750 would be $24,160. That value is lower than the trade-in figures cited. I’d say my model Y is holding up well, not tanking.

Related columns:

Scott Burns, “Shocking News! I’ve Gone Tesla, 1/12/2025: https://scottburns.com/shocking-news-ive-gone-tesla/

Scott Burns, “How a Rogue Toyota Dealer Became a Marketing Agent for Tesla,” 5/21/2023: https://scottburns.com/how-a-rogue-toyota-dealer-became-a-marketing-agent-for-tesla/

Sources and References:

Edmunds care trade in figures: www.edmunds.com

Average miles driven per year by state in 2025: https://www.trustedchoice.com/insurance-articles/wheels-wings-motors/average-miles-driven-per-year/

This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.

Photo: Scott Burns, October 2025

(c) Scott Burns, 2025